On Friday, in another trademark Obama document dump, ICE issued a memo that pushes the perpetually-rejected DREAM Act for illegal alien students. As immigration lawyer Michelle Scopellite explained to me: “In essence, what this means is that if someone, is not a major criminal and is in removal proceedings, ICE officers are now to release them or terminate proceedings if they are involved in a lawsuit or fighting for union ideals. This appears to be another attempt by the Obama admin. to side-step immigration law through administrative acts. My partner and I are just returning from the AILA conference where, we were more than likely, the only Republicans in attendance and the director of DHS and the ICE Director, both discussed this memo and it received rave reviews from the liberal wing of AILA.” There are actually two documents in the hopper, a more detailed six-page prosecutorial discretion memo and shorter policy summary:

Here are the categories that Morton flags for “particular care and consideration” — e.g., amnesty:

* the person’s length of presence in the United States, with particular consideration given to presence while in lawful status;
* the circumstances of the person’s arrival in the United States and the manner of his or her entry,particularly if the alien came to the United States as a young child;
* the person’s pursuit of education in the United States, with particular consideration given to those who have graduated from a U.S. high school or have successfully pursued or are pursuing a college or advanced degrees at a legitimate institution ofhigher education in the United States;
* whether the person, or the person’s immediate relative, has served in the U.S. military, reserves, or national guard, with particular consideration given to those who served in combat;
* the person’s criminal history, including arrests, prior convictions, or outstanding arrest warrants;
* the person’s immigration history, including any prior removal, outstanding order of removal, prior denial of status, or evidence offraud;
* whether the person poses a national security or public safety concern;
* the person’s ties and contributions to the community, including family relationships;
* the person’s ties to the home country and
* the person’s age, with particular consideration given to minors and the elderly;
* whether the person has a U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse, child, or parent;
* whether the person is the primary caretaker of a person with a mental or physical disability, minor, or seriously ill relative; ;
* whether the person or the person’s spouse is pregnant or nursing;
* whether the person or the person’s spouse suffers from severe mental or physical illness;
* whether the person’s nationality renders removal unlikely;
* Whether the person is likely to be granted temporary or permanent status or other relief from removal, including as a relative of a U.S. citizen or permanent resident;
* whether the person is likely to be granted temporary or permanent status or other relief from removal, including as an asylum seeker, or a victim of domestic violence, human trafficking, or other crime; and
* whether the person is currently cooperating or has cooperated with federal, state or local law enforcement authorities, such as ICE, the U.S Attorneys or Department of Justice, the Department of Labor, or National Labor Relations Board, among others.

“They’re pushing the [immigration] agents to be even more lax, to go further in not enforcing the law,” said Kris Kobach, Kansas’ secretary of state. “At a time when millions of Americans are unemployed and looking for work, this is more bad news coming from the Obama administration… [if the administration] really cared about putting Americans back to work, it would be vigorously enforcing the law,” said Kobach, who has helped legislators in several states draft local immigration-related laws.

…The primary document was the six-page “prosecutorial discretion” memo, which provided new reasons for officials to not deport illegal immigrants.

“When weighing whether an exercise of prosecutorial discretion may be warranted for a given alien, ICE officials, agents and attorneys should consider all relevant factors, including, but not limited to – the circumstances of the person’s arrival in the United States … particularly if the alien came to the United States as a young child; the Person’s pursuit of education… .. whether the person, or the person’s immediate relative, has served in the U.S. military,” said the memo.

“The factors are extremely broad and very troubling … [it] look like a stealth DREAM Act enforcement through non-enforcement,” said Kobach.